Stop Talking About If Female Characters Are “Likable”

The Girlboss Villain Is Everywhere - It's Enough Now: The Girlboss Villain is everywhere -- but are these stories about toxic female bosses incisive capitalist critiques, or are they actually kind of misogynistic, suggesting their desire for power is unwomanly or unnatural? by The Take

21 min listen

The Matrix 4, Ending Explained - "Fixing" Trinity Syndrome: The Matrix Resurrections is an interrogation of the original film and its legacy, asking whether anything has improved as a result of the Matrix’s message to free your mind, or if the mind-control in our actual world has just gotten worse. by The Take

22 min listen

The Cool Girl Trope, Explained: She’s not like other girls. She’s a COOL girl. But does this fun, junk food-loving hottie actually exist? And what’s behind this myth? In this episode, we take on how the Cool Girl has evolved onscreen and what she represents in our culture. by The Take

19 min listen

Ted Lasso on Today's Toxic Positivity - Season 2 Ending Explained: Ted Lasso’s relentless optimism won us all over in season one. But by season two, Ted’s refusal to look anywhere but on the sunny side of things is looking less and less healthy. So what really went wrong with Nate, and how can you achieve a “Light Side” that’s based on a genuine, rock-solid foundation? by The Take

22 min listen

Mean Girls: Regina George, The Psychology of a Dictator: Did you know Regina George (Rachel McAdams) actually tells us a lot about how dictatorships work? Listen to our take and find out more about this iconic character and her North Shore High “regime.” by The Take

20 min listen

The "Quirky Black Character" - How Black Creators Challenge Stereotypes: More than ever today, the Quirky Black Character is becoming a well-rounded protagonist in a Black-created story -- expressed not just as a personality, but through an individual or downright weird worldview that shapes the whole texture of the narrative. by The Take

19 min listen

The Devil Wears Prada: Miranda Priestly - A Defense of Perfectionism: Is Miranda Priestly actually "the devil" in The Devil Wears Prada? Her pursuit of excellence actually makes her a role model for working women, and we can all use a touch of Miranda in our professional lives -- that is, of course, if you’re willing to pay the price of perfectionism. by The Take

22 min listen

Clickbait’s Crazy Ending, Explained - The Clickbaiting of Film & TV: Netflix's Clickbait uses the same kinds of techniques as internet clickbait to keep us pressing “next episode”: focusing on sensational, violent spectacle; raising tantalizing questions that it delays answering, and ending episodes with cliffhangers that tease a big reveal, only to send us down a lot of false paths. by The Take

21 min listen

Legally Blonde and the History of the “Dumb Blonde”: A key mission of Legally Blonde's Elle Woods is fighting the bias against blondes -- in particular, the "dumb blonde" stereotype. But where does this stereotype come from? Let's all dig into the roots of the assumptions about blondes and find out what's really behind them. by The Take

17 min listen

The Dragon Lady Trope - Reclaiming Her Power: East Asian women onscreen have long been haunted by the figure of the Dragon Lady: a violent seductress who will do anything to achieve her goals. At the same time, the dragon lady is unapologetically driven, ultra-assertive, and has agency. by The Take

21 min listen

The “Victim” Onscreen and How She’s Been Misrepresented: The female victim-survivor binary of film & tv has produced both hapless "victim" characters and unrealistic "survivor" heroes -- so it's time we truly listen as the person who lived through hell tells her complicated story herself. by The Take

22 min listen

How Phoebe and Mike Redefined "Settling": Friends’ Phoebe Buffay is quirky, unique, and has lived an interesting life, while by comparison, Mike Hannigan is... kind of bland. So did Phoebe actually settle or did they find the key to happy ever after? by The Take

18 min listen

The Office's Andy - Privilege Can't Buy Happiness: Privileged and miserably insecure Andy Bernard is The Office's cautionary tale about the limits of what wealth can (or rather can't) do for you. Many Office fans found Andy’s arc disappointing, but his choices eventually proved how many who grow up in toxic, status-obsessed environments often don’t transcend their learned behaviors. by The Take

18 min listen

All the Metaphors in The Matrix, Explained: The evolving discussion over symbolism in The Matrix is a testament to how much meaning the film holds for audiences. So which interpretations offer the most insight, and what does the Matrix teach us about the fundamental nature of art? by The Take

22 min listen

How the Madonna-Whore Complex Still Reigns: Many of the labels we still put on women - good girls and bad girls, wifeys and femme fatales – come from Madonna-Whore dichotomy. Here’s how to spot these archetypes on-screen. by The Take

22 min listen

The Weird Girl Trope, Explained: She's a Weird Girl, the black sheep of all female character tropes. Why do people misunderstand her, or are even scared of her? What secret powers does the weird girl have? by The Take

20 min listen

Stop Talking About If Female Characters Are “Likable”: Why are we still talking about whether or not female characters are likable? Historically, female characters have been over-defined by how much a male viewpoint character likes, or indeed, doesn’t like them -- creating a gendered bias of likability. by The Take

22 min listen

The Office: Why Michael Scott is Actually the World’s Best Boss: The mug speaks the truth: The Office’s Michael Scott (Steve Carell) IS the world’s best boss. by The Take

17 min listen

Why Ted is the Villain of How I Met Your Mother: Is How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby the good guy he claims to be? Or is his romantic journey more self indulgent and sometimes sinister than he claims it is? What if he's the bad guy? by The Take

23 min listen

The Nice Guy Trope, Explained: He's not like the other guys. He's a NICE guy -- but wait, is he really that nice? What's behind his sweet, romantic act? In this episode, we take on the Nice Guy archetype and figure out what he represents in our world today. by The Take

22 min listen

And Just Like That - What It Got Wrong (And What It Did Right): While And Just Like That faltered early on, it ultimately got its groove back, and left us with the classic Sex And The City takeaway that it’s the ever-evolving relationship you have with yourself that matters most. by The Take

22 min listen

The Antihero’s Wife - Home Is Where The Crime Is: The anti hero’s wife enables him to self-identify as a ‘family man,’ but they also serve to highlight that -- however much these men claim that their wrongdoing is separate from their pure family home -- it’s impossible to cleanly close the door on dirty business and retreat into the realm of pure domesticity. by The Take

20 min listen

Pete Davidson, Heartthrob - Why the “Hotness Gap” is BS: Media coverage of Pete Davidson suggests a society that’s still as obsessed as ever with conventional female beauty and a “hotness gap” between the men and women in celebrity couples. But Pete's attractiveness is actually pretty obvious, and the coverage of his relationships needs to calm down and catch up with the times. by The Take

15 min listen

The "Mean Girl" Trio - Three Types of Bad Female Rulers: Variations on the terrible trio, like The Plastics and the Unholy Trinity, have long dominated cinema’s and TV’s fictional high school hallways. So what is it about this rule of three and these particular recurring character types that add up to the perfect recipe for high-school popularity and oppression? by The Take

16 min listen

Forrest Gump: The Myth of America: The story of Forrest Gump is a myth of 20th-century America. Like any good myth, it filters historical facts through allegory, creating a symbolic journey that helps us make sense of a complicated era. So, what does Forrest Gump has to say about us -- and our national identity? by The Take

25 min listen

How I Met Your Mother's Controversial Ending, Explained: How I Met Your Mother's ending has never sat right with fans. Why is this conclusion regarded with such infamy? Should Ted and Robin have gotten together? Did the Mother live up to your expectations? Let's take a look at what doesn't work about the How I Met Your Mother series finale. by The Take

17 min listen

The Good Girl Trope - Why Women Can't Win: The good girl of film and tv plays by the rules. She's nice, polite, and probably a straight A student. Yet this perfect-seeming facade can mask her darker struggles, even from herself. by The Take

19 min listen

Janet Jackson, Taking Back Control: Janet Jackson's early music tackled the body insecurities she’d dealt with throughout her early life as a child performer. Now, she's taking back control once again with her own 2022 documentary. So let's celebrate her legacy of centering female bodily agency in pop. by The Take

16 min listen

The Housewife Onscreen, Start Valuing Her More: In capitalist terms, housewives as a group are highly influential, shaping everything from department-store stock to global politics. But whether she’s framed as an object of envy or pity, the housewife figure is routinely disrespected in our culture. by The Take

23 min listen

And Just Like That - How Sex and the City Changed: In the premiere episodes of revival series And Just Like That, Sex and the City catches up with its characters to show us what it's like for women to grow older, though it remains to be seen if ladies can resurrect the seemingly joyless, sexless city that was once theirs. by The Take

15 min listen

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Stop Talking About If Female Characters Are “Likable”

Stop Talking About If Female Characters Are “Likable”

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